Trump administration imposes new steel and aluminum tariffs

On May 31, President Trump announced the United States would impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners, including Canada and Mexico.“We’ll be imposing tariffs on steel imports and tariffs on aluminum imports,” Trump said during a speech at the White House. “You will have protection for the first time in a long while, and you’re going to regrow your industries.”The tariffs will be 25 percent on foreign-made steel and 10 percent on aluminum. With the tariffs, Trump hopes to encourage U.S. companies to buy those materials from U.S. producers. Mexico, Canada and Brazil are the top countries that send steel to the United States, with Canada, Russia and China being the top aluminum providers.However, many analysts have criticized Trump’s decision, claiming it will raise prices on everyday products that include aluminum and steel, such as aluminum cans. Moreover, the announcement has drawn criticism from foreign leaders. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for one, has called tariffs “unacceptable.”“These tariffs are an affront to the longstanding security partnership between Canada and the United States – and in particular, an affront to the thousands of Canadians who have fought and died alongside their American brothers in arms,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference.Mexico has already retaliated by imposing tariffs against the United States on apples, grapes, cheese, flat steel and pork.“It sends a clear message that this kind of thing does not benefit anybody,” Mexican Economic Minister Idelfonso Guajardo stated during a recent Mexican radio interview. “Because in the end, the effect will fall on voters and citizens that live in districts where the people have a voice and vote in the (U.S.) Congress.”House Speaker Paul Ryan also disagreed with the measure. “Instead of addressing the real problems in the international trade of these products, today’s action targets America’s allies, when we should be working with them,” Ryan said in a statement, published by the Los Angeles Times and other news agencies.